Sunset
by SatinemoOn
Summary: The day has again finally reach its end but the questions are yet to be answered and maybe, just maybe she could only give it to him.


**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Naruto and its characters Masashi Kishimoto does.

Though I do own the plot itself =)))

Well, here it goes. ENJOY!

**Sunset**

The sun is beginning to set, painting a large, breathtaking canvass of pink and orange in the sky as a young man, dark-haired and crimson eyed stride towards the forest where he knew he could think about things. He knew it is the only place in Konoha where he could be alone with himself and these stupid thoughts that fills his mind, away from the stares, voices that drowns the last sanity he is dearly holding onto. Sasuke had been in a deep slumber according to Sakura and for a month at that along with Naruto whom had woken up a week earlier than himself. Though he remembers being in a dark, deep void Sasuke never knew he would actually wake up and how ironic was it that he was in the last place he ever wanted to be and Konoha was just the same as he had left it but not the people living in it.

Sasuke stopped as soon as he felt two presences not far from him, at first he felt a bit annoyed at the thought that ANBU's are guarding his every move even baby-sitting him but he had learned to simply shrug it off though the urge to kill is taking its toll on him. _Tsk. They are really going to tail on me aren't they? _He thought when it really felt silly surely the hokage knows that he can sense them even with them hiding their chakra which was obviously an epic failure.

Slightly shaking his head, Sasuke finally let his bloodline limit turn to its normal shade of obsidian and closed his eyes. He let the wind touches his skin as he remembers the nightmares of his life. He tried to remember it, the thirst to kill, the hunt for revenge. He wanted to feel the being he had been as the Uchiha Avenger not as Uchiha Sasuke but it felt so far away after the war has ended with both him and Naruto on the brink of their own death. Sasuke has decided to die if ever the two of them had their final battle, he was certain he would die.

_Then why am I still alive?_

He thought as he took a deep breath placing both of his hand on his pocket. There was only two time in his life where he was actually certain he was to die, first was after he had fulfil killing Itachi and second, the battle with Naruto and there was only a few times when he tries to think about living and changing. He then remember right after Itachi defeated Kabuto's Edo Tensei where he went straight back to the Uchiha District to find answers about his life. He wanted to seek the answers to where he actually wanted to be, to rightfully choose the path he wanted to take, to how he can cast his revenge and cleanse the Honour of his fallen clan. He knew it was what his aniki had wanted but still…

_I should've told you before all this happened_

_But it's too late now, Sasuke…_

His words haunted his very being that every time he'd close his eyes, his voice would always be there, echoing in the dark void that fills his entire soul. _But isn't that what I wanted to know the truth and he'd given me that even after his death. _

_ Everything was still and quiet, the way the Uchiha District had been when he left it 8 years ago, back when he was still a chuunin that seeks revenge, who still thirst for conquer and who was still weak against Itachi. Sasuke heard it was destroyed when the pain invasion happened and was surprised when he saw that somehow it was built to the way it was before, and with the shinobi war at its corner, surely it would be destroyed all over again. Residents from all over the leaf village have been evacuated so he knew this would be the best opportunity. Save from killing people who would be on his way not that he care but it'll be a pain._

_ Orochimaru had told him that he would find the answer he was seeking in this place: Konoha but as soon as they arrived Sasuke had the urge to visit this place telling them he'll meet them at the mountain where the faces of the hokages are carved. Orochimaru told him that he was being nostalgic and somehow the truth has wavered his will for revenge but hell that was the last thing on his mind instead the truth had made the urge for conquering this place that his brother dearly loved and protected with his whole life made it even stronger. This place had held memories that are both beautiful and bitter but to his cold heart they would never mean anything anymore. Taking a last glance toward the moonlight that shone on the red and white fan that is painted on one of the walls, Sasuke turns to walk back to the rendezvous point when he heard a voice, no it was more of a whimper._

_ What the hell was that? He thought as he switch to his bloodline limit heightening his overall senses, Sasuke felt a presence, it was a weak but nonetheless he had the urge to follow it. Sasuke's feet brought him to a small house near the Uchiha district, he stopped in front of the door and as soon as he open the door scent of fresh blood filled his nostrils but nonetheless the whimper grew a bit louder and he knew the source was inside. It was dark but Sasuke can see the dead bodies of people lying on the floor, slowly he took soft steps towards it not minding the fresh blood that seep through his socks._

_ Sasuke knew it was a blood bath and it was not a pleasant nor a dreadful sight to him, instead he felt nothing. His gaze ran inside the room when he heard a soft thud coming from the large cabinet on the left side of the room; Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he placed his hand on the knob and slowly turns it_

"_Uhh...Uhh...Mother, Father…" The voice whimper, Sasuke looked at the quivering creature in front of him. It was a small boy, eight years old perhaps, his voice shaking as his whole, little body tremble with fear, Sasuke's crimson eyes can sense the fear in this boy's soul as slowly the boy looked up to meet his gaze. It was as he expected filled with fear and innocence the things that he could no longer feel but very familiar. The young Avenger stood there as slowly he clutches the sword behind him, ready to withdraw when the boy spoke._

_ "Why? Why do they have to die?"_

Soft footsteps pulled the Avenger away from his reverie, he felt another presence but unlike the ANBU these one is calm and quiet like soft rain caressing him. His dark gaze quickly turns to the forest to see who was coming near him. It was unbearably familiar though he can't point out who it was when finally the person revealed herself. Sasuke could see that she was oblivious to his presence as she continued to murmur things that are incoherent to his ears.

"Lavender, Peppermint, I wonder if—Oh."

_She is so weak…_ He thought as he stares at the young woman few feet away from him, her pearlescent eyes widen a bit at his presence but nonetheless they were no fear in them just plain shock. Sasuke merely remembers her name but he knew she was an heiress of a clan like his, a quiet, meek girl who always blushes whenever the dobe is around. She also became his partner when they were still chuunins, one of the girls who are not obsessed with him.

_Hyuuga Hinata…_

"A—ano, Are you alright?" her quiet voice broke the silence growing between them; Sasuke saw the familiarity in her eyes as he look away. He doesn't want to answer her question but without thinking he nodded at her to satisfy her curiosity though he can't seem to understand why do she care, they merely talked to each other and basically they were strangers but then…

"Well, t-that's nice to hear t-then I'll see you a-around." She stutters as she began to walk pass through him, Sasuke should've keep his mouth shut and let her go but a voice within urged him to ask.

_He was in the brink of his death and he could clearly feel it. Sasuke took small and weak steps away from the scene where he left Naruto like him swimming in the pool of his own blood. He knew he would live, that dobe is a fighter pretty much like him but unlike Naruto who deserves to live, Sasuke knew he had to die. Suddenly he fell on the hard ground and felt his vision darkened, he could feel the warm blood that gushes out of his cuts and his wounds, they were uncontrollably drifting away the life he had left, He knew it was good or better yet it was for the best but then why? Why does it feel like everything had been so wrong?_

_All of his life, he believed in the sea of lies and paved his path through the conquest and thirst for revenge but now, instead of destroying Konoha, like his brother he aimlessly sacrifice his life for them. The village that is responsible in betraying his dear brother and killing his whole family leaving him all alone. Just like Itachi he would die as a betrayer of the village he had saved. Maybe Orochimaru was right? He was getting weak._

_I will love you forever…_

"_I-I'm sorry…I'm s-sorry, nii-san." His throat tightened as he tried to stop the warm liquid filming behind his eyelids. He had forgiven his brother long ago even before he had killed him, Sasuke knew that, he had loved him, admire him but the betrayal he felt if he hadn't avenge his clan bear upon his shoulder. _

_To forgive and to forget is a betrayal but still Itachi loved him forever and that was enough. If someone like him had believed him then Sasuke knew it'll be enough. He felt a single tear ran down his cold cheeks, he hated it that he could still feel this sorrow until his dying breath._

"_Sorry…" Sasuke felt a warm sensation stung his kin but unlike his tears that became cold, this sensation lasted and lulled his weary soul and he reach to touch it as a voice said those kind, comforting words before he was pulled into the dark void._

"_Everything is alright, Sasuke…Go to sleep and everything will be alright."_

"Why did you save me?" he whispered softly for her to hear, it was a quiet and Sasuke knew she heard him because he felt her stop a few steps away from behind him. Sasuke had been in the brink of his death, he was delirious and weak but that voice and touch had been a security. A sweet comfort before he slip away from the living; The reason why he was completely surprise when he woke up, alive and breathing as if he was given of another life.

"I-I just did what I b-believe is r-right."She whispers as she fidgets the hem of her lavender jacket, Sasuke turn to meet her but she wouldn't look up at him. She might look like a weakling but Sasuke knew better she was an outstanding medic-nin that's for sure for she brought back his dying self back to life. "U-uchiha-san… Do you remember that night... Her voice was soft and he knew she was trying her best not to stutter still fear is lost within her calm demure. Sasuke knew she was that warmth he felt before he drifts away but then why? Why saved an Avenger? He exhaled for he remembers that night clearly and importantly he remembers her vividly.

"_Why? Why do they have to die?" _

_The shaky voice left him staring at the shivering boy in front of him, he could hear the fast heart beat and the fear coated in his voice. The boy was unbearably helpless, weak and alone… Sasuke grip the hilt of his sword tightly around his fingers. He could kill this child to help him ease the pain the future might bring to him, his family died in front him, killed mercilessly and he was left all alone to face the unknown future but then something made his heart tightened. He couldn't erase it; he could see the familiarity of all of it. _

_Sasuke turns towards the door where he met a pair of pearlescent eyes staring at him with such intensity. In a span of seconds, Hinata was ready to throw a kunai in a lethal accuracy but she knew it'll be far too slow for Sasuke's swift reflexes. Crimson meets pearlescent as she grip the kunai in her hand ready if he suddenly lunges towards her, it'll be hard Hinata knew but nevertheless she has to try and save the kid if not herself. She could feel shiver run through her spine as she saw nothing but darkness in those crimson eyes. Uchiha Sasuke, the avenger is right in front of her. The man Naruto had wanted to save all these years is here and ready to kill her._

"_Leave the child alone." She said as she looked at the frail child in his arms. Sasuke didn't spoke nor he moved and Hinata felt herself tremble at the tension between them when slowly he walked towards her and to her surprise, he quietly placed the unconscious child in her arms then walk pass through her._

"_Save your breath." He said in a cold, emotionless voice. "You would never beat me. Better yet get the hell out of here." Hinata felt her breath stop as she turn look at his back, her eyes filled with wonder yet guarded. He didn't say a thing after that but as quickly as those words were said he disappeared out of her sight leaving her dumbfounded with the helpless child in her arms._

"Uchiha-san, I-I…only did what you did that night. I gave you a choice to live." She began pulling his attention back to her. Truth to be told she was confuse by what he did that left her thinking but all she could do is come up with this "I- I believe that Uchiha-san and that boy is the same, both given with the choice to live but also given of the burden to choose the way they wanted to live."

She gave him a choice.

A choice to go back or die.

A choice neither that Itachi nor his parents ever gave him.

They lied and he lived through the pain and suffering,

He was blinded by grief and by revenge.

He was an avenger.

"I never wanted to live." Hearing him say so, Hinata shot her gaze up at him and there she saw a different emotion masked in those obsidian eyes. Guarded, cold but with certain kind of emotion she couldn't point out. "From the very beginning I should've died." She was right and he hated himself to so transparent, he hesitated on killing the child because he felt as if he was looking at himself when he was younger when Itachi slaughter their clan ruthlessly and at that moment she had seen the weakness in him. A weakness he never wanted anyone to see.

"I-Is that what you r-really w-wanted, U-uchiha-san." She asked him softly, the scent of the herbs filled the air and somehow Sasuke felt the wind slowly turns cold. He wanted to lash out to her, tell her she doesn't know him nor could she understand but something stopped him as he remembered his will to die but also the tint of hesitation he had before he closed his eyes. And that single hesitation secured his life whether he liked it or not, she saved him so he could live.

But living was what he hated the most but at the same time he craved it. Hated it for being alone and crave it for living means he could save the honour of his clan but his sole purpose is already fulfilled or so he thought then he remembered Itachi.

Itachi was also given of a choice. To save Konoha and his little brother or die with them

And because of love, He lived.

_I should've told you before all this happened but it's too late now, Sasuke. It won't need to be said again. I lost all the truth it won't come back…_

"I-I know I do not h-have the right to c-criticize your decisions in l-life nor could I understand the pain you've b-been through but…" Hinata exhaled as if gathering her strength. He could see that she was so naïve but the Avenger couldn't erase the truth that she actually made sense. "N-no matter what y-you have decided and d-done it's all b-because you wanted to l-live, you made t-those choices b-because you decided to s-strive and no one is a-allowed to tell you e-everything you've done is w-wrong."

"I killed people, hundreds of them and you saved my life because of a single child's life?" he said in gruff tone as he placed his hands on his pocket. He felt tired, so tired he had ever been in his whole life and this girl is making it even worse.

"It might've b-been that…but U-uchiha-san…" she stopped weighing the words she was about to say, Sasuke felt her tension when she slowly smile at him. "You c-came back right? You s-saved a million l-lives. I g-guess that's a r-reason for you to l-live."

"Uchiha-san is not a-afraid to live nor doesn't he w-want to…It's just t-that you don't have a-any more reason to l-live to… but life is full of c-choices." She continued as she turns to look at the sun that is beginning to sink below the horizon. "You can choose whatever you want to not bounded by duty or your past, but by this…" she added pointing just above her heart.

"You are way too stupid." He muttered under his breath as he weighed the words she had spoken, upon hearing him, the raven haired woman looked at him with a confused look to which he simply shrug. _But then I'm an even a bigger idiot, listening to her babbling_. He thought quietly as he close his eyes. But she was right at one thing, he was afraid of choosing, because without any rules to bound him, he can freely choose what he want for the life ahead of him and it was way too frightening.

"Why do I even talk to you?" He scowled at her.

"A-ano, because w-were p-practically strangers."

"Hn."

That was the problem he was openly talking to a stranger who save his life, gave him a choice to live and someone who strangely believed in him. Sasuke opened his eyes and met hers staring at him, she quickly averted it away muttering incoherent sorry. A tint faint of blush spreads across her ivory cheeks. _She was seriously way too stupid…_ He mentally sighed as he turns to walk away. Sasuke waited for him to be meters away from her when he momentarily stopped, inhaling all the strength he could get.

"Thank you." He mumbled honestly hoping she had heard him because he swore he'll never say that again, when to his surprise she called him. Sasuke turn to see her pearlescent eyes gazing at him, her long purple locks wildly swaying across her lithe body, a small, sweet smile painted across her pink lips with the last faint light of the sun illuminating her gentle features.

"Everything will be alright, Uchiha-san." Without stuttering, he nearly smiled but he didn't one last thing on his mind was to erase the fact that somehow this plain girl seem not to be plain anymore in his eyes. _She was not only stupid but naïve…_Sasuke thought as continued on his way letting his thoughts drift away from him, so much for the "alone with thought" time but strangely deep down his guts he felt a little calmness beginning to spread though he still feels lost and wandering into this second chance given to him, he still wonders neither if he was worth it nor if he wanted it but two things are for sure. First, they would never remain as strangers and second, well, he knew that the Avenger would soon find his way out of the darkness.

_It'll be alright…For he loved me and she believes in me._

**A/N:**

Waaaah. So how was it? Huh?

Actually I don't really ship this two but then when I read **Ikigai by Lanse,** I just totally I mean **TOTALLY **flip! Well, I still love NaruHina but SasuHina is also sweet and a bit darker than the first pairing.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. R&R are very much welcome =))

Thanks again for reading!

God bless =D

**SATINEMOON 3**


End file.
